In this section, we introduce the marketing concept, and then consider its relationship to more
recent concepts such as Internet marketing, e-commerce and e-business.
The word marketing has two distinct meanings in modern management practice. It
describes

1 The range of specialist marketing functions carried out within many organisations. Such
functions include market research, brand/product management, public relations and
customer service.

2 An approach or concept that can be used as the guiding philosophy for all functions and
activities of an organisation. Such a philosophy encompasses all aspects of a business.
Business strategy is guided by an organisation’s market and competitor focus and everyone
in an organisation should be required to have a customer focus in their job.

The modern marketing concept (Houston, 1986) unites these two meanings and stresses that
marketing encompasses the range of organisational functions and processes that seek to
determine the needs of target markets and deliver products and services to customers and other
key stakeholders such as employees and financial institutions. Increasingly the importance of
marketing is being recognised both as a vital function and as a guiding management
philosophy within organisations. Marketing has to be seen as the essential focus of all activities
within an organisation (Valentin, 1996). The marketing concept should lie at the heart of the
organisation, and the actions of directors, managers and employees should be guided by its
philosophy.

Modern marketing requires organisations to be committed to a market/customer orientation
(Jaworski and Kohli, 1993). All parts of the organisation should co-ordinate activities to ensure
that customer needs are met efficiently, effectively and profitably. Marketing encompasses
activities traditionally seen as the sole domain of accountants, production, human resources
management (HRM) and information technology (IT). Many of these functions had little
regard for customer considerations. Increasingly such functions are being reorientated,
evidenced by the importance of initiatives such as Total Quality Management (TQM),
Business Process Reengineering, Just in Time (JIT) and supply chain management.
Individuals’ functional roles are undergoing change, from being solely functional to having a
greater emphasis on process. Individuals are therefore being encouraged to become part-time
marketers. Processes have a significant impact on an organisation’s ability to service its
customers’ needs.

The Internet can be applied by companies as an integral part of the modern marketing
concept since:

* It can be used to support the full range of organisational functions and processes that deliver
products and services to customers and other key stakeholders.
* It is a powerful communications medium that can act as a ‘corporate glue’ that integrates
the different functional parts of the organisation.
* It facilitates information management, which is now increasingly recognised as a critical
marketing support tool to strategy formulation and implementation.
* The future role of the Internet should form part of the vision of a company since its future
impact will be significant to most businesses.
Useful PDF for Internet Marketing
Without adequate information, organisations are at a disadvantage with respect to
competitors and the external environment. Up-to-date, timely and accessible information about
the industry, markets, new technology, competitors and customers is a critical factor in an
organisation’s ability to plan and compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

How to Search on Search Engine..?

Before doing a search, it's important to define your topic as completely and succinctly as possible. Write down exactly what information you're looking for, why you're looking for it, and what you're not looking for. This will help you to discover the best keywords for your search.

Keywords

With the exception of search engines such as AskJeeves.com, which will take questions in the form of actual queries, most work best if you provide them with several keywords. So how do you determine which keywords will work best?

Most users submit 1.5 keywords per search, which is not enough for an effective query - the recommended maximum is 6 to 8 carefully chosen words, preferably nouns and objects. (Search engines consider articles and pronouns clutter.) Avoid verbs, and use modifiers only when they help to define your object more precisely - as in "feta cheese" rather than just "cheese."

Now you have your keywords. How do you enter them into the search engine?

Use of Phrases

Your most powerful keyword combination is the phrase. Phrases are combinations of two or more words that must be found in the documents you're searching for in the EXACT order shown. You enter a phrase - such as "feta cheese" - into a search engine, within quotation marks.

Some searches provide specific options for phrases, while others don't allow them at all; but most will allow you to enter a phrase in quotation marks. Check the "Help" files of the search engine you're using to be sure what it accepts.

Punctuation and Capitalization

Most search engines are insensitive to case: you can type your queries in uppercase, lowercase, or a mix of cases. If you use lowercase, most engines will match on both upper and lower case; so for general searches, lowercase is the safest form to use.

Not all search engines handle punctuation the same way. When in doubt, consult the "Help" file.

Boolean Basics

"Boolean" searching (named after George Boole, the 19th-century mathematician who founded the field of symbolic logic) is a powerful technique that can narrow your search to a reasonable number of results, and increase the chance of those results being useful. Boolean searches are simple to learn and tremendously effective. The three most commonly used Boolean commands (or "operators") are AND, OR and AND NOT.

AND means "I want only documents that contain both/all words." For instance, the search "London" AND "Big Ben" AND "Buckingham Palace" AND "Trafalgar Square" would return only documents that contained all four keywords or phrases. AND is the most frequently used Boolean command.

OR means "I want documents that contain either word; I don't care which." The query "London" OR "Big Ben" OR "Buckingham Palace" OR "Trafalgar Square" would return all documents that contained even one of these four keywords or phrases. Use OR to string together synonyms; be careful about mixing it with AND.

AND NOT means "I want documents that contain this word, but not if the document also contains another word." The query "London" AND "Big Ben" AND NOT "Buckingham Palace" would return documents that include London and Big Ben, but not those that also include Buckingham Palace. Remember that AND NOT only applies to the word or phrase that immediately follows it.

Most search engines support the AND NOT command.  It is sometimes called BUT NOT or NOT, and is sometimes indicated by placing a minus sign (-) before the term or phrase to be removed.  (Check the search tips of the engine you're using to see which form of AND NOT it accepts). Before you apply AND NOT, see what results you get from a simpler search. AND NOT is a great way to weed out results you don't want, such as pornography.

Quick Tips

• Use nouns as query keywords. Never use articles ("a," "the"), pronouns ("he," "it"), conjunctions ("and," "or") or prepositions ("to," "from") in your queries
  
• Use 6 to 8 keywords per query
  
• Where possible, combine keywords into phrases by using quotation marks, as in "solar system"
  
• Spell carefully, and consider alternate spellings
  
• Avoid redundant terms
  
• Check the "Help" function of the particular search engine you're using, since they all have their own quirks and preferences